Bjarne Berntsen
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Bjarne Berntsen (born 21 December 1956) is a Norwegian
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
coach and former player who is the manager of
Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Ă˜ster Hus Arena. The cl ...
. He is the elder brother of fellow football coach Alf Ingve Berntsen.


Playing career

Bjarne Berntsen began his football career at local club
Figgjo IL Figgjo Idrettslag is a Norwegian sports club from Sandnes. It has sections for association football, team handball, Nordic skiing, biathlon and gymnastics. The men's football team currently plays in the Fourth Division, the fifth tier of Norwegi ...
. He signed for
Norwegian top division Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...
club
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
in 1977, and stayed there until 1982. During this period he played 33 matches for the Norway national team, including the famous September 1981 win over
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
where he played at the right back position. Despite being only 25 years old, Berntsen chose to step away from top-level football at the end of the 1982 season, and returned to his former club Figgjo which at the time played in the fourth tier of the league pyramid.


Early manager years

After retiring as a player, Berntsen coached Figgjo,
Bryne Bryne (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Time, Norway, Time municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality of Time and it is also List of urban areas in Norway by population ...
and
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
. Between 1986 and 1987, Berntsen was also the assistant coach of the Norwegian national team. He won the Norwegian cup with Bryne in 1987, still only 30 years old.


Viking club director

Between 1999 and 2004, Berntsen was the Director of
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
. After Viking manager Kjell Inge Olsen resigned on 13 April 2004, he took over as
caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...
until 12 July 2004, when the club signed
Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstad in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to t ...
as their new manager. Berntsen then resumed his role as club Director. In late 2004 he was surprisingly offered the job as head coach of the
Norway women's national football team The Norway women's national football team () represents Norway in international Women's association football, football, and is controlled by the Norwegian Football Federation. The team is former European, World and Olympic champions and thus one ...
from 1 January 2005 on, which he accepted.


Women's national team coaching career

Berntsen's first tournament with the national women's team was the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship which took place in June 2005 in England. He courted controversy by including 16 year old
Isabell Herlovsen Isabell Lehn Herlovsen (born 23 June 1988) is a Norwegian former football player. She last played for VĂ¥leranga and Kolbotn after moving home from China and the club Jiangsu Suning. She plays as a midfielder and a striker. Herlovsen is the ...
, the daughter of one of his former teammates on the Norway national team, in the squad. However, she scored two vital goals to keep Norway in the tournament. After mixed fortunes in the group stage, Norway played a memorable semifinal against Sweden which they won by 3–2 after extra time with a goal from
Solveig Gulbrandsen Solveig Ingersdatter Gulbrandsen (born 12 January 1981) is a Norwegian former footballer played a midfielder. At club level she has previously represented Kolbotn, FC Gold Pride, VĂ¥lerenga Fotball Damer and Stabæk. With the Norwegian nati ...
. In the final against Germany, Norway lost 3–1. Berntsen led the national women's team through qualification to the
FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...
tournament in China, where they won their group by beating Canada and Ghana and drawing against Australia. In the quarter final against the hosts China, in front of 50,000 spectators, Norway won 1–0, the only goal being scored by Herlovsen. In the semifinal, the team lost to Germany by 3–0, and they then lost the third-place playoff 4–1 against the US to finish in fourth place. By virtue of their performance at the World Cup, Norway qualified for the 2008 Olympics. After the
UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...
, Berntsen resigned as coach of the women's national team.


Later years

On 11 February 2010,
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
announced that Berntsen was again hired as the Director of the club, nearly five and a half years after he resigned from the same position. Two years later, Berntsen was nominated and elected vice president of the
Football Association of Norway The Norwegian Football Federation (, ; NFF) is the governing body of football (soccer), football in Norway. It was formed in 1902 and organises the Norway national football team, men's and Norway women's national football team, women's national te ...
which meant that he had to quit his position at Viking. After
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
's relegation from the
Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...
and manager Ian Burchnall's dismissal from the club in December 2017, Berntsen made a surprising return to Viking, leaving his role as vice president of the Norwegian FA to take on the manager role at the club. He led Viking to a first place in the 2018 1. divisjon and were promoted back to Eliteserien after one season's absence. On 20 June 2019, Viking announced that Berntsen's contract had been extended with two more years, till the end of the 2021 season. In the Norwegian local elections, 2019 he was elected to a seat in
Sandnes Sandnes () is a city and municipality in Rogaland, Norway. It lies immediately south of Stavanger, the 4th largest municipality in Norway, and together the Stavanger/Sandnes area is the third-largest urban area in Norway. The urban city of Sand ...
municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...
, representing the Labour Party. On 26 November 2020, it was announced that Berntsen would be relieved of his duties as manager of Viking FK after the 2020 season. This was controversial as Berntsen himself was not contacted before the decision was made, and was well loved by the majority of fans. The leadership of Viking received a lot of criticism for their actions, and publicly apologised afterwards. In June 2021 he was hired as managing director of
Bryne FK Bryne Fotballklubb () is a professional Association football, football club located in Bryne, Norway, which competes in the Eliteserien, the top tier of Norwegian football. Founded on 10 April 1926 as Bryne Fotball-lag, the club joined the Nor ...
. He resigned in August 2021, amid rumours that he would take over the vacant manager job at
Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Ă˜ster Hus Arena. The cl ...
.


Managerial statistics


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berntsen, Bjarne 1956 births Living people People from Sandnes Footballers from Rogaland Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norway men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Viking FK players Norwegian football managers Bryne FK managers Viking FK managers Sandnes Ulf managers Eliteserien managers Norway women's national football team managers 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup managers Labour Party (Norway) politicians Rogaland politicians 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen